12 weeks post-op breast reduction

8 December 2012:

Saw my Doctor today for a follow-up. He was surprised at how great the scars are healing. He said that I don't have to use the silicon strips anymore and can just keep to massaging the breasts daily. I'm going to keep doing that with oil and moisturisers.

I've noticed comments/queries in this forum about what types are good and in my personal opinion (and background as a pharmacologist), it's the ingredients that matter more than any specific brand of cream, oil or lotion. My doctor agrees; in that anything containing Vitamin E is great for the skin. Most creams and moisturisers have Vitamin E in them. The main thing is to keep massaging!

I also discussed with him my final size and he did say that they will shrink a little more; viz the bulk on the outsides near the torso will go away because his aim when he did the surgery was to have them sit within the torso. However I do have a wide breast bone/sternum and my breasts will never be superclose. I am happy though as they don't sit more than a finger apart and they can't be seen from the back. Given my big arms, I doubt that I'd ever wear anything cleavagy and I'm more than happy with that (not the arms, but not showing any cleavage).

Also I am now officially fit for duty; I can do vigorous exercise and buy underwire bras if I desire. Funny enough I find that I like wearing soft cup bras and I feel like underwire are a bit compressing. I hate the ones with paddings too as they just make me look bigger. I am going to start swimming in the pool again. I need to get back to being fit and healthy as I really can't afford to gain weight; not because I don't want to be fat but all the fat goes to my breasts!

I guess this is pretty much my last post. What I can say to those who read this, it is worth it but it does take time. Give yourself the time to heal before you start exercising. Be patient, eat healthy, do moderate exercise (walking), wear comfortable clothes and bras and don't rush to get the underwire straightaway.

I might post photos down the road if the boobs change but it will be another 2 months to 4 months before I see more differences, I think. I'm not going to see my doctor for another 9 months anyway!

It's over 9 weeks post-op and I'm doing well. Got a bit lazy with the massage on the scars (I know I shouldn't be) and I don't wear the silicon strips over 20 hours as I'm meant to; rather they irritate my skin so I keep them to 12-14 hours a day.

Overall I am happy with the breasts but I keep fearing the they will grow. I'd like them to shrink a bit more as I still get backaches and migraines because I'm a D-DD. Sadly as I lived abroad before, no one has seen me beforehand and I don't get any compliments on "having" lost weight ... either that or they think that I look fat! I basically get comments like "Well, they are proportionate to your body...". I know that I don't exactly have a flat stomach but I still wouldn't mind a bit smaller boobs.

When I see my plastic surgeon, I will ask him about it. I still find clothes I can't fit into due to their size and they feel very full compared to just post-surgery. I worry that they'll grow again so I watch what I eat and walk a lot. I intend to start swimming again soon now that the weather is warming up in Sydney.

14 October 2012
- It's now over 4 weeks since I had my breast reduction. I've started scar therapy; which is basically massaging the scars about 10 mins twice a ay and wearing some silicone sheets that my doctor provided. The scars are still a bit sore if rubbed against.
- I went to a specialist bra shop and got measured to buy a non-underwire bra which would give me more support than a crop top.
- I was very disappointed when I was given a "14DD" size (is equivalent to a 36DD size) even though my band size is only about 26 inches and my cups are about 27 inches. The lady at the shop mentioned that sizes do vary with different bra bands and that particular size was a smaller cut (maybe she was trying to not make me feel so bad). She did say that I probably could fit into a 12 DD (34DD) but she didn't want to irritate the scars so she got me a bigger size.
- I feel as if my breasts are very full at the moment - so I hope that over the next few months, they reshape a bit and decrease in size. The reason I got the surgery was to get rid of my back pain - and to be honest, anything bigger than a D will still cause me backpain (I only started getting more severe pain when I got bigger).
- The discrepancy in dress sizes is just amazing; in some brands in Australia, I can wear a size 10 dress with no problems (size 10 is a sort of medium, where 6=XS, 8=S, 10=M, 12=Large and 14=XL). So even though I wish I had a smaller bra size, I do recognise that maybe it's just the brand.

I have friends who are bigger than me and wear size 14, and they tell me that there is no way my band size is a size 14!!! The bra sizing just doesn't make sense!!!

For now I'll continue the scar therapy and hope that the breasts resize smaller in time.